On July 10, I posted about getting bit by something, probably a spider, not likely of the recluse variety based on how quickly it blew up, but something sufficient to cause me to go to the doctor. Now nearly 3 weeks later, I’m almost at 100% on how I feel and my leg is looking better, even though there is still a nasty looking sore, and it’s still discolored, the crater is filling in, there is still a lump under it, the skin around it is peeling like I had a sunburn. I call it good. I’m not someone who is afraid or concerned about scars, as long as they are reasonable size (ie I wouldn’t want to be scarred all over my body), I’m not concerned about having small scars here and there, this will most definitely scar and I might end up with a discolored patch on my leg for quite some time, maybe even permanently.
This did make me sick, very sick, the kind of sick that puts you in bed for days. It really zapped my strength, I could really tell it when I would walk around on my mountain, I could take about 5 steps and felt like I had run a marathon, it was physical exhaustion. I would seriously hate to have a chronic condition that made me feel like that all the time, I have a new appreciation for those who have those types of chronic fatigue syndrome and other illnesses that just steal your energy.
Fortunately, it’s all but over for me, I’ve been working, doing longer days with the merchandising company, I’m glad I had a light couple of weeks during the worst of it. I believe the antibiotics that I took also had a hand in slowing me down. It really seemed to affect my digestion quite a bit. I could eat and the next day I felt like I still had that food in my stomach. I took the antibiotics faithfully for the 10 days they were prescribed, well almost faithfully, on about the 7th day, I quit taking the nightly dose of one of them, I still continued taking both of them during the day.
On the 10th day, I had a follow up appointment with my doctor, did I mention that I really like this doctor? It had been about 30 years since I had seen a doctor before finding him, a combination of being healthy enough not to need one, and not wanting to go see one. When I found this doctor, he was treating a friend of mine and spent nearly an hour going over a blood test that he gave her, that and the fact that he is a D.O. and combines modern medicine with food therapy and supplements, he is right up my alley.
I went to see him on the 10th day, he was happy with the way my leg looked, and according to my blood workup, everything looked good, I do not have Lyme disease, something I knew didn’t happen from this bite but could have occurred from previous tick bites, everything else looked good too. Something I noticed was my white blood count was not elevated, so apparently I did not have an infection, so it was just my body reacting to the toxins in whatever spider bit me.
I did mention to the doctor about how the antibiotics were really messing with my digestion, something that is to be expected since it doesn’t discriminate between the bad and the good bacteria in your system. He told me to eat some yogurt, real yogurt not the sugarized adulterated dead yogurts you tend to find on the grocery store shelves. He also suggested kombucha or some other way to get some probiotics into my body. I gladly accepted the advice, in fact I went straight to the grocery store (I know, a grocery store, I didn’t have a healthfood store that I could go to at that moment, it’s in the next town over) and bought the best real yogurt they had, with live cultures. A few days later I did hit our “local” healthfood store, it’s 40+ miles away one way, I found a plethora of yogurt and other goodies with living probiotic cultures. I could tell the difference within a few days.
At any rate, I’m good to go again, I’m able to work a full day without feeling exhausted, I can walk up my hill, even jogging a bit. I did get my refills on the antibiotics so that IF that happens again, I don’t have to go to the doctor and I’ll not wait as long to start treatment.
How has your month been? Hopefully better than mine. :)